Lights Out A Nalu Fanfiction
by jayanatha
Summary: Natsu turns up at Lucy's apartment looking for a place to crash. Will she regret confessing an embarrassing secret to the Dragon Slayer when the lights go out?


The sound of the dragon slayer's voice only served to make the celestial spirit wizard stir from her slumber. She was comfortably tangled in her pink plush sheets.

When her half lidded eyes turned to the source of the noise (she had not entirely registered it to be the dragon child), she was jolted from her sleep as she saw a large pair of black beady eyes gazing intently into her own.

"Aaaaah!"Lucy screamed, bouncing up from her bed only to feel a sharp pain in her forehead. She fell back onto her sheets gripping her aching hair line. Natsu had been standing at the head of her bed bent over, his face directly above hers.

"Ouuuch," lucy groaned.

The pink haired mage didn't seem to be bothered by the collision.

 _So he really is dense up there,_ Lucy thought, before the pain in her forehead began to throb. She cringed, mouthing expletives.

"Finally awake huh?" Natsu chuckled.

"What do you mean finally awake? It's the middle of the night!"

Lucy's eyes swept over the room realizing that she had not even bothered to turn off the lights before bed. Exhaustion had crippled her.

"Oh yeah," Natsu said, rubbing the back of his head apologetically.

Lucy sighed, mirroring the inevitable goofy smile on the fire mage's lips.

"Where's Happy?," Lucy inquired.

Natsu began lazily strolling over to the blonde mage's kitchenette.

"He said he was going late night fishing with Lily," He replied. "Geez I'm thirsty!"

Lucy had plopped back onto her bed, her shoulder sinking into the warm recesses of her pillows.

"Just grab one of the bottles of water in the box near the fridge."

"What's wrong with the water in the tap?" Natsu asked, peering into Lucy's quaint bedroom from behind the fridge.

"There isn't any", Lucy replied dimly, starting to feel the weight of the day again.  
My rent's been pretty inconsistent lately. My land lady has been kind enough not to kick me out, but since then she's been threatening to cut all the utilities. So my water's gone."

Natsu didn't say anything. She could hear him shuffling through a mess of plastic bottles on the floor. He appeared again a few seconds later, downing a bottle of 'd'leu sorciere' bottled water.

"Man... I'm tired" the dragon slayer said, the words muffled by a yawn.

Lucy flung him a few pillows from her bed, along with a yoga mat she kept at her bedside in preparation for the dragon slayers habit of arriving uninvited. Hardly bothering to unravel the soft yellow mat, he plopped himself onto it. Moments later, she heard the soft trill of the dragon slayer's breath as he settled fully in sleep. Lucy flicked off the light switch at her bedside. The nightlight she kept at the other end of the room provided a soft glow.

Lucy couldn't sleep. Forty slow minutes must have passed before she got bored studying the intricacies of the ceiling fan. Truthfully, she was thinking about the sleeping boy on her apartment floor. She felt a writhing in her stomach. Natsu had made a habit of sleeping at her apartment. So she should be used to it by now right? But she wasn't. If it were any other boy, their intentions would clearly be to make a move. But if Natsu Dragneel said he came to crash at her place, he came to crash at her place. She had ignored her feelings for the goofy fire mage for so long that she felt like she was going to burst. She rolled off of the bed, making her way to the kitchen. Wanton emotions always left her throat parched.

Natsu was jolted from sleep by a scream originating from the kitchenette. It was Lucy. He bounced up from the floor, but realizing the apartment was pitch black, he made his way clumsily toward the sound bumping into various articles of hardwood furniture.

There weren't any lights in the kitchen either. Natsu sniffed out into the darkness, trying to pinpoint the concentration of the vanilla-mint scent that was Lucy Heartphilia.

The celestial spirit wizard was crouched down in the corner between the sink and the oven. Natsu clumsily made his way towards her, finally settling cross legged on the tiles in front of her.

He was still shaking the sleep from his eyes when he heard her sobbing.

"Lu-cy" Natsu said, reaching a hand out to touch her.

 _ **SLAP**_

Natsu retracted his hand from Lucy's bosom, laughing awkwardly, apologies spilling form his lips.

"Why are you crying Luc?", he asked, stretching his hand out to what he knew for sure this time was her shoulder.

He immediately felt coldness on her satin night wear. The area was completely soaked.

"Lucy you should be more careful, you spilled water all over yourself!", he said laughing . Natsu paused suddenly, "Oh no, is that why you're crying?".

Lucy shook her head furiously, her face buried in her knees which were gathered up against her chest.

"No Natsu I-", her voice was soft and feeble.

She sighed deeply before saying "The lights. My land lady cut the lights."

Natsu was silent for a minute. His eyes spanned the apartment as he realized that even the small nightlight Lucy kept on every evening was not providing its usual glow.

"Lucy, it'll be okay, it's night time anyway, so get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll go on a job for lots of jewels. I promise not to burn down the place too so we can get the full reward this time", he said chucking softly.

"But", he started again, with a more solemn tone "If you'd like to be alone, I'll head out to meet Happy".

Natsu started to his feet but a sharp tug on his scarf led him flying back to the tiled floor.

"Owww, Lucy, what was that for?" He croaked.

"Natsu, please..."

Lucy was still holding onto his scarf when she finally lifted her face up from her knees. He could make her out enough through the darkness to see the glistening tears on her cheeks.

"Natsu, please don't go". Her voice was a whisper, and she gulped hard, blinking back the river in her eyes.

Natsu was at a loss for words. He breathed deeply after a few seconds of silence between them had passed.

"Lucy,"

He was serious, a side of the dragon child she hardly got to see. "Please tell me what's really wrong."

The celestial spirit mage took a deep breath.

"It's just," She began. She looked into the dragon slayers eyes, his gaze transfixed on her form.

She looked away and down at the tiled floor.

"I'm afraid of the dark."

And she waited. She waited for Natsu's lips to curl into a smile. She waited for him to double over, laughing at her. She waited for the ridicule.

But it never came. Lucy was still looking down at the tiles when suddenly she saw red and orange colors dancing on the smooth marble. She lifted her head slowly towards Natsu. And then she looked down. In his palm he cradled a tiny flame. It was flickering ever so gently. It resembled what she thought looked like a tiny heart beat. It was beautiful. She had only ever witnessed Natsu's scorching fire capable of destroying entire rain forests. But this. This was something else.

Her gaze rose to meet Natsu's after minutes of being captivated by the flicker of fire in his palm

"Lucy", he began, his eyes were fully dilated and reflected an emotion she could not identify, for she had never seen it before from the cherry-blossom haired boy.

"When I was younger," He sighed, as if the words tugged at his heart strings.

"I was afraid of the dark, too."

The celestial spirit mage was perplexed. She never imagined this would be a fear of the fire boy, and even further from her mind was the possibility of a confession.

Lucy wanted to test to see if this was a joke, but the sincerity in those dark glassy pools that were his eyes dispelled her doubt.

She withdrew her knees from her chest, sitting cross legged, mirroring Natsu and dropping her arms to her side.

"But," He started again, "Igneel told me that there was no reason to be afraid"

He reached out his hand which contained the tiny flame so that it was close to Lucy's chest.

"He said that everyone has a fire that can never go out. No matter how dark it gets".

Natsu was inching closer to the blond haired now most of her tears had dried up.

"And where is that fire", Lucy chuckled, amused at Natsu's story.

Natsu leaned further into her, his forehead only inches away from hers.

"In your heart."

He turned his palm around so that it was facing Lucy's chest bringing the flame close to it.

"Natsu don't, it'll burn!"

But all she felt was warmth. She looked down to see Natsu's hand hovering over the area where the water had soaked her clothes. To her surprise, the water began drying up.

Lucy felt a lump in her throat. She was filled with emotion.

"Promise me you won't cry", Natsu breathed, his voice fading into a whisper, the flame getting dimmer as his hand moved closer to her chest.

"I hate when you cry."

Unknowingly her body was moving closer to his, her fingers still intertwined in his scarf.

She was comforted by his familiar scent of burning embers. As Natsu moved closer, Lucy's gown had almost completely muffled the flame. Their half lidded eyes watched as the dancing flames slowly faded from each other's faces, until it lingered on their lips before going out.

"I promise", Lucy whispered. She was close enough to the dragon slayer for him to feel her breath upon his parted lips.


End file.
